Taekwondo, the most successful game for Nepal at the Asian Games, will return home empty handed for the third consecutive time after the two remaining players crashed out on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday.

Gyanendra Hamal and Asmita Khadka lost their round-of-16 matches as Nepal continue to look for an elusive medal at the end of the fifth day of the meet. Taekwondo, which has won 13 bronze and a silver medal in Asiad, also returned with a medal in 2010 and 2014. Nepal has fielded 187 in 29 disciplines. Wushu, another medal hopeful game, also returned home without a medal. Taekwondo had fielded 14 and wushu 10 players in Indonesia. Any remaining hopes on breaking the medal drought would now largely depend on the performance in judo, boxing, paragliding and kurash.

India and Afghanistan are the only South Asian countries to open account in the medal tally. While Afghanistan have won one bronze from wushu, India have won medals from shooting, wrestling, sepak takraw, tennis and wushu. India have won 16 medals including four gold. China, Japan and South Korea occupy top three positions while hosts Indonesia are fifth with seven gold medals.  

On Thursday, Nepali taekwondoka Gyanendra Hamal won his first bout in men’s U-68kg weight division but lost in pre-quarterfinals. Hamal defeated Jigme Wangchuk 39-17 to enter into round-of-16. But the22-year-old went down 30-2 to Rozali Rozaimi of Malaysia. In the women’s U-49kg division, Ashmita Khadka lost 43-4 to Nahid Kiyanichandeh of Iran.

Nepal coach Dipak Bista said: “He (Hamal) was unable to continue with the momentum against the Malaysian opponent. Adding to his misery, Hamal also picked up injury while playing against the Bhutanese player which forced him to be more cautiously.”

Swimming

While Nepali martial arts might get lucky to pluck in a medal at the Asiad, the chances in swimming in almost impossible given the competitive nature of the sports. So the Nepali swimmers goal at in Indonesia has primarily been to improve on their personal marks. However, multiple national record-holder Sirish Gurung could not even a achieve that in the men’s 100m heat on Thursday where he timed 57.92 seconds.

The timings was far lower than his own national record of 57.76sec which he had set during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Gurung not only finished in the bottom of his Heat but also finished overall 40th in the 47-men field. He also failed to make improve on his mark in he 200m freestyle two days earlier. Tisa Shakya timed 39.46 in the women’s 50m breaststroke where none of the six swimmers from the Heat qualified for the second round. Shakya finished third in the heat and 26th overall.

Weightlifting

The second Nepali weightlifter Bikash Thapa also failed to make any impression on Thursday. Competing in the men’s 77kg weight division, Thapa lifted 113kg in snatch and 135kg in clean & jerk for a total lift of 248kg. The 12th South Asian Games silver medallist could only match his personal mark with the lift and finished in fifth position. Kamal Bahadur Adhikari holds the national record in the weight division with a lift of 122kg in snatch, 162kg in clean & jerk. Adhikari took part in the 69kg weight division this time and improved on his national record on Wednesday.

Badminton

Nangsal Tamang advanced to the pre-quarterfinals in the women’s singles defeating Abdul Razzaq of Maldives 21-19, 21-15. Jessica Gurung lost 21-7, 21-4 to Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand. In the men’s doubles, Bikash Shrestha and Nabin Shrestha also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals. The Nepali duo beat Sumiyasurene Enkhbat and Temuulengo Mbodorj of Mongolia 21-12, 21-19. Top-seeded Nepali players Ratnajit Tamang and Dipesh Dhami lost their first round match against Azam Rizwan and Kashif Ali Sulehri of Pakistan 21-19, 22-20.

Nepali shuttlers also lost their both mixed doubles matches. Tamang pair Ratnajit and Nangsal lost to Debby Susanto and Karanda Ricky of Indonesia 21-13, 21-7. The other pair of Dipesh Dhami and Jessica Gurung went down 21-11, 21-11 to Lee Chr and Chau Hoi Wa of Hong Kong. The women’s doubles round-of-32 match saw Nangsal and Jessica Gurung lose 21-7, 21-5 against Jongkolphan Kitit Harakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand.

Paragliding

Bijay Gautam finished eighth in men’s individual accuracy and Sushil Gurung 24th in the 33-men field. Indonesia’s Jafro Megawanto claimed gold while Jirasak Witeetham of Thailand won the silver. Chulsoo Lee of South Korea walked away with bronze. In the women’s individual accuracy, Tisha Shrestha Bomjan finished 14th and Prativa Bhujel 15th among the 18 participants. Nunnapat Phuchong of Thailand won gold, Da Gyeom Lee of South Korea silver and Rika Wijayanti of Indonesia bronze medal.  

Archery

Tilak Pun Magar beat Nima Wangdi of Bhutan 6-0 in the elimination round but himself lost 6-4 to Tianyu Xu of China in the round of 16 match during the men’s individual recurve. Roshan Nagarkoti also lost 6-0 to Sajeev Mahamadaachchi of Sri Lanka in the men’s individual recurve elimination round. Gyanu Awale lost 6-2 to Ada Lam Shuk Ching of Hong Kong in the women’s individual recurve. Nepal’s team event is set for Friday against Qatar. Tilak, Ashim Sherchan and Roshan Nagarkoti will represent Nepal in the team event.

Sports Climbing

Pemba Sherpa and Pranil Man Shrestha finished were bottom of the men’s speed qualification rounds. Sherpa finished in 22nd place and Shrestha in 21st among the 23 competitors. Sherpa took 12 seconds and Shrestha 12.26 seconds to complete the climb.

Kabaddi

Nepal lost 38-20 in the men’s kabaddi on Thursday, their fourth defeat in the meet. They have also lost to Indonesia, Japan and Iran in their Group ‘B’ matches with their only win coming against Malaysia on Wednesday. Nepal were participating in the discipline for the first time in 24 years. In their previous Asiad participations, Nepal had finished in fourth in 1990 (Beijing) and fifth in 1994 (Hiroshima).

Pencak Silat

Vivek Kumar BK lost 5-0 to Mohammad Rahimibaladezaei of Iran in the men’s 60-65kg category round-of-16 match on Thursday. Pencak Silat in a traditional martial arts games of Indonesia and is making its debut at the regional meet.

Squash

Arhant Keshar Simha and Amrit Thapa Magar made early exits in the men’s singles event in squash tournament. In the round-of-32, Simha lost to Aslam Tayyan of Pakistan 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 and Thapa Magar went down 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 to Lee Ho Yin of Hong Kong.